Hamas police chief killed in Israeli strike on Gaza, medics say
The head of the Hamas-controlled Gaza police force and his deputy were killed in an Israeli attack on a tent camp sheltering displaced families.
The Hamas-led interior ministry condemned the “assassinations” of Mahmoud Salah and Hussam Chauvin, saying they had been “fulfilling their humanitarian and national obligations.”
Nine other people, including three children and two women, were killed in overnight attacks in Mawasi, near the southern city of Khan Younis, medics said.
The Israeli military confirmed the attack on Chauvin, describing him as a “terrorist” who had helped Hamas’ military wing plan attacks on Israeli forces in Gaza.
There were also reports of other deadly Israeli attacks in Gaza on Thursday, with the military saying it intercepted a projectile fired from the southern part of the territory.
Gaza’s interior ministry accused Israel of “sowing chaos” and “deepening human suffering” in the region by killing Salah and Chauvin. It insists the police force is a “civilian protection agency” providing services to Palestinians.
Lawlessness in Gaza has grown since Israel began targeting police last yearciting their role in Hamas governance.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said police forces “violently interrogate Gaza residents, violate human rights and suppress dissent”.
“Hassam Chauvin was responsible for coordinating with the Hamas military wing to conduct intelligence assessments during attacks on the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip,” it said.
The military also said “many measures” had been taken to reduce the risk of harming civilians before the attack on Mawasi.
Nine other people were killed, including three brothers aged seven, 11 and 13 years old.
Walid, the father of Ahmed, Mohammed and Abdul Rahman Badawir, said in an interview with local reporters that when the strike occurred, Ahmed, Mohammed and Abdul Rahman Man Badawir was sleeping in his tent.
Social media videos showed the boy’s body being transported in a tuk-tuk to a local hospital, with a blood-stained mattress inside a damaged tent.
Aida Zanoun, who lives in a nearby tent, said she heard an Apache helicopter gunship flying overhead at around 01:00 (23:00 GMT on Wednesday).
“Then we saw a very strong (explosion). It triggered an earthquake nearby. They said the shrapnel was up to 100m (330 feet) high,” she told Reuters.
“When morning came and we came to inspect (the scene), and … it was devastating, total destruction. What did the kids do to get hit?”
The Israeli military has declared the sandy stretch of land along the coast of Mawasi a “humanitarian zone” to house hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the 14-month war with Hamas.
But it has repeatedly struck the area, accusing Hamas operatives of hiding among civilians.
Palestinian media reported that Israeli attacks on other parts of Gaza on Thursday killed at least 19 people.
Ten people were killed in the northern town of Jabaliya, which was besieged by Israeli ground forces, and four people were killed in the western Shati refugee camp, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
Reports said four more people were killed in the central town of Deir al-Balah, and several others were killed in the nearby Magazi refugee camp.
Recent cold and wet weather has worsened conditions in makeshift camps for displaced families.
More than 1,500 tents across Gaza have been flooded by rain and sewage since Tuesday, according to Hamas’s civil defense agency.
Moataz Abu Hatab told BBC Arabic program Gaza Today: “When we woke up… we were shocked to find that the rain had flooded (our tents), causing us to be Flooded with sewage.”
“Everything we owned – mattresses, blankets and clothes – was lost. Everything we managed to buy or receive during the war is now gone and we have nothing.”
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas after it launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
Since then, more than 45,580 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
